The Best of 2017

“The TV Junkie” by Penny Landau **** “The Good Doctor” is an interesting concept, adapted from the Korean show and produced by Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost” and “Hawaii Five-O”), about a doctor with Autism who sees the practice of medicine through different eyes. As Dr. Shaun Murphy, Freddie Highmore has created a character that is both brilliant and unique. Along with his mentor, Dr. Aaron Glassman, played in all its intensity by the wonderful Richard Schiff, Shaun must adapt to the workings of the hospital and the many doctors and patients he encounters, not an easy task for him. This show is the best of the best of the new season. It’s this year’s “This is Us.”

There’s outer space and then there’s “The Orville…” Seth MacFarlane is a f*****g genius, on so many levels. Set on starship, not unlike the Enterprise, but so unlike the Enterprise, MacFarlane plays Captain Ed Mercer, commander of the Orville, replete with an interestingly odd crew, including his ex-wife Kelly, played to perfection by Adrianne Palicki and the hilarious Scott Grimes as Ed’s partner in crime, Lt. Gordon Malloy. Serious and silly at the same time, if you’re a fan of MacFarlane’s, this is the show for you.

“Young Sheldon” is so, well, Sheldon. With narration by Jim Parsons and his mother played by Laurie Metcalf’s daughter Zoe Perry, Meemaw played by Annie Potts and young Sheldon by the adorable Iain Armitage, this show, which has already been renewed for season two, is just spot-on. I can’t wait to see the adult versions of Sheldon’s brother and twin sister (who knew he had a twin?) arrive on the mother ship for Sheldon and Amy’s wedding. Stay tuned!

“Will & Grace” is the best reboot of a show that I have ever seen. Ok, there is “Hawaii Five-O,” which I LOVE, but “Will & Grace” returning to make us pee in our pants once again, is the best gift any of us could possibly ask for. Embracing their age and the age of Gay that we now live in, the foursome, plus a bunch of returned characters (last night saw the return of crazy Val, still stalking Jack and Karen in a brilliantly insane turn by the equally brilliantly insane Molly Shannon), make it seem like they’ve never left our living room screen. The show has already been renewed for another season and I, for one, can’t wait.

Looking forward to…

“Instinct” headed by Alan Cumming as a former CIA operative who is sucked back into the firm, promises to be loads of fun. Oh, did I mention that his character, like Cumming himself, is Gay & happily married? This is the first drama to have a Gay main character. Don’t you just love it when history is made?

Although I loved the original show, the return of “Roseanne” might be a bit problematic, what with Rosie spouting all her pro-Trump rhetoric off–screen. There have been calls to boycott the show before it even premieres on March 27, but I’m not sure if it’s really her speaking, or her character, who they designated a fan of the putz-in-chief. Good news is that Johnny Galecki will be taking time from “Big Bang” to return as David. Time will tell.

Considering the genius that is David Letterman has nabbed President Barack Obama as his first guest on “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman,” makes his return something to look forward to with great anticipation. He’ll have one guest per monthly Netflix show who will, well, need no introduction.

Kathy Bates (who, like Bette Midler and Greer Garson, can do no wrong) brings Ruth Whitefeather Feldman back and Netflix has her! “Disjointed,” my favorite new show from last year, is on for season two. It premieres tonight, January 12 and you’ll have the full report after I stream the antics at Ruth’s Alternative Caring. If I remember. You know, I might be a bit disjointed after watching. During watching. Whatever.

This just in…

Say it ain’t so, Scully? Apparently, Gillian Anderson has announced yesterday that she is done with “X-Files” for good. Just when we got used to Scully and Mulder back on our small screen, Anderson says this. Mulder without Scully is, well, Mulder without Scully. NOOOOOOOOO!

Those we’ve lost…
It’s been a year, with the deaths of Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Jerry Van Dyke, leaving Dick with a devastating loss. The comedy world lost the really sweet Don Rickles, the crazies of Irwin Corey, the subtle comedy of Shelley Berman and the uber-brilliant Dick Gregory. Add Jim Nabors, David Cassidy, my old pal Adam West, Robert Guillaume, Martin Landau (no relation), Mike Connors, my dear friend Erin Moran, Bill Dana, Monty Hall, Chuck Barris, Roy Dotrice, Sam Shepard, Glen Campbell and Della Reese and 2017 lost so many wonderful TV stars.

Until next time…

“The TV Junkie” was preceded in her family by a large mahogany cabinet that housed a small screen with a large speaker below. Thus began her love affair with the older sibling in the living room. Theirs was a tenuous relationship, prone to mishaps (forgetting to use the special “screen” for “Winky Dink”), joyous events (“Julie & Carol at Carnegie Hall”), sad moments (Clarabelle saying goodbye to the Peanut Gallery) and a wide range of emotions (the funeral of John F. Kennedy and the Inauguration of Barack Obama). From “Captain Video” to “Star Trek” to “Lost;” from “A Brighter Day” to “The Edge of Night” to “General Hoapital;” from “Peyton Place” to “ “Dynasty” to “Desperate Housewives;” there has never been a greater love, than that of “The TVJ” and the best friend a girl could ever have.

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